TOKYO (AFP) – SoftBank Group reported yesterday a sharply narrowed full-year net loss as the Japanese investment giant pivots into artificial intelligence technologies.
For the year to April, SoftBank was JPY227.6 billion (USD1.5 billion) in the red compared to the huge loss of JPY970 billion the previous year.
It was helped by its two Vision Fund investment vehicles returning to profit and proceeds from selling shares in Chinese e-commerce titan Alibaba.
Founded by the charismatic Masayoshi Son, SoftBank made its name through spectacularly successful bets on Alibaba and internet pioneer Yahoo.
But other investments have also catastrophically failed, most notably in office-sharing firm WeWork.
According to media reports, Son now wants to create a powerhouse in chips for AI applications built around British chip designer Arm, of which SoftBank owns 90 per cent.
Arm will set up an AI chip division, aiming to build a prototype by spring 2025 and for mass production by contract manufacturers later in the year, the Nikkei business daily reported on Sunday.
Last week British start-up Wayve announced a record USD1.05-billion fundraising led by SoftBank to develop AI systems for autonomous vehicles.
The deal is the largest fundraising to date among European startups at the forefront of AI development, according to data provider Dealroom.
“Arm is core to our AI shift,” finance chief Yoshimitsu Goto told reporters yesterday. “Arm and (other) portfolio companies should create a new ecosystem going forward.”
